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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22750279">The best days of youth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperialAxis/pseuds/ImperialAxis'>ImperialAxis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asexual Character, Autistic Character, Drama, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Polyamory, Queer as Fuck, Trans Character, gay angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:06:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22750279</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperialAxis/pseuds/ImperialAxis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Big gay college AU where Bernadetta gets be drawn out of her shell just a little bit, enough to get two wonderful girlfriends and a college life somewhat free from her father</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bernadetta von Varley/Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Bernadetta/My Unit | Byleth, Edelgard von Hresvelg/Bernadetta von Varley, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The best days of youth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Bernadetta shivered, curled up in the fetal position behind the dresser that had been put under her minuscule dorm bed. She knew she couldn’t handle college, it would be one thing if she had her own room she could stay safely locked away in but no Garreg Mach required their freshmen to be in two person dorms meaning that someone scary she didn’t know at all could just walk into the room at any time and look at her with their judging eyes and she didn’t have anywhere she could go ever and she’d never be safe and-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Someday I’ll find my way home, </span>
</p><p>
  <span>the trees and the wind will lead the way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All of these years on my own, </span>
</p><p>
  <span>they flew right by so what can you say?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bernadetta was shaken out of her panic by the voice of an angel, gently filling the entirety of the small dorm room. She noticed that her body was shaking with exhaustion as she reflexively looked up figure out what was happening. In front of her was a hand, delicately proffered from around the corner of the dresser. Unsteadily, she managed to reach forward and grabbed it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s no need to be sad</span>
</p><p>
  <span>You’re on a path and you know where it heads</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s no need for despair </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just walk on and you find you’re there.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The hand holding hers tugged gently, nudging her out from her shelter and she obliged, crawling forward on the rough carpet towards whoever awaited her. She was greeted by a goddess sitting cross legged in the open, with messy shoulder length blue hair, muscular arms, and wearing an oversized t-shirt and pajama pants. Completely stupefied, she allowed herself to be pulled into her lap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Someday I’ll find the one</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The trees and the wind will lead the way</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All of these years alone</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They flew right by so what can you say?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bernadetta could feel the tension draining from her body, melting away in the warm embrace of this person as those arms wrapped around her and a hand ran through her hair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Feeling better?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bernadetta jolted internally as her overactive brain started working again, feeling like she had just come out of a trance as her heart hammered and she hurriedly untangled herself from the embrace, jumped up into her bed, and wrapped herself in a large purple quilt. “Temptress! Siren! What are you here to do to me? What do you want?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh I’m so sorry, should I have not done that? I’m Byleth, I’m your roommate. I’m sorry, I’m not very good at talking and I only really know how to comfort people with touch.” Byleth stood up to look at Bernadetta but she shied away from her. “Oh no, um, here let me get you some water.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As she attempted to respond Bernadetta realized how chapped her lips had become. How long had she been hiding back there? Long enough for her roommate to move in and unpack. The other half of their room was already occupied by a desktop computer, empty boxes and suitcases under the bed, some clothes hung up on the mini closet for that side of the room, and a few posters with either cute anime girls being almost inappropriately gay or bands she didn’t recognize. It was much more lively than her quilt, the only personal effect she had. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A mug with water was held before her and she took it. “So this is how Bernie ends? Poisoned by her beautiful roommate.” She tilted the mug up, taking a sip, and closed her eyes, waiting for something to happen. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not poisoned, I promise.” Byleth looked distressed, meekly speaking to the floor as she placed a hand over her heart. “Please listen to me when I say I won’t hurt you. I just want to be your friend.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No! I’m not-I can’t have friends!” Shouts filled the room, followed by heaving sobs and a cracked, small voice that whined out from under her blankets.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why not? We’re roommates, it would really be a good idea to get along. I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but you’re really obviously hurting and I’m not going to just ignore that, I only want to help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bernadetta stared at Byleth. She was a bundle of nerves, looking everywhere in the room except at her, shuffling her weight between her feet, and tapping her fingers against her legs. She wanted to believe her but it just didn’t seem right. Why would anyone care about her like that? To such a degree that they didn’t care if they were in danger? It made no sense. How could she care, she hadn’t even looked Bernadetta in the eyes for as long as they’d been talking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why won’t you look at me when you say that? How can I trust someone who won’t even look at me?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Byleth visibly flinched at her words, strange, because she thought that eye contact was just a normal thing, had been told to look her betters in the eye when speaking to them. Still, if it drove her away that was good, she wouldn’t get hurt then. Maybe she could just be left alone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s um, kind of a personal thing. If I tell you would you tell me why you think it would be bad for me to be your friend?” She somehow actually seemed more hopeful than before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I might.” Damn it. Why was she agreeing to this? Even partially. Did she want Byleth to realize how pathetic she was and finish her off? Maybe, it would be better than a slow death at least. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Byleth exhaled sharply. “Okay. Sooooo... I, um, I’m autistic, and eye contact is really hard for me. Well, not exactly hard to do but it makes me feel really awkward and I hate it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well that’s great, now she felt guilty about how she’d unintentionally made a jab at that. It was weird though, instead of doing horrible things to her Byleth was just talking. Still, it would probably be best to honor their agreement, otherwise Byleth would probably want revenge. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not allowed to have friends, when I was ten I made friends with the son of one of my fathers employees, after my father found out I never saw him again.” Bernadetta could feel her voice breaking as fresh waves of guilt washed over her. “I don’t know what happened to him, he could be dead and it’s my fault!” She curled back into the fetal position under her quilt, quivering and sobbing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She never should have left why did she have to have a roommate now she was only going to get someone else hurt she couldn’t do this she needed to be alone and safe and-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her thoughts were interrupted by a shock to the senses. She felt a hand on her back, her entire body froze instinctively, fearing an attack. But the hand only moved down, and up, gently gliding along the outside of the blanket, firm enough to coax her muscles into something approaching a state of relaxation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...okay, you’re safe here Bernadetta, I won’t hurt you, and nobody else can come in here without permission. You’re safe, it’s okay, everything’s okay.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not sure if she was relieved by the provided assurance, angry that someone would put themselves at risk like that, or just too tired to push Byleth away any longer, Bernadetta stuck her head out of her cocoon. “Why are you doing this?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Byleth blinked. She furrowed her brow in concentration for a moment, her mouth making a little o as she did. “I. Don’t really understand why anyone wouldn’t? Like I know logically that there are people who wouldn’t, but the idea that someone wouldn’t do everything they reasonably can to help someone else is just” she shrugged “inconceivable, I guess.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What? This girl was weird as hell. But some of the things she said were admittedly starting to stick. She certainly felt a little bit safer with Byleth around, well no that couldn’t be the reason, she was in a college dorm and her father probably didn’t even know what college she was at, so she probably could be safe in this room. She started to extricate herself from her cocoon, flashing Byleth a sheepish smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks for being here. And um, if you find me panicking again could you sing to me a bit?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Aquamarine eyes stared in blatant shockfor once. “Yah-weh? You like my singing? Wait, when was I singing?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bernadetta’s had to stare back a little in kind. “When you lured me out from behind the dresser.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh.Weird, I didn't mean to. Well I guess if you want me to I’ll keep that in mind.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bernadetta gently took Byleth’s hand in her own. “Thank you.” Then she turned away and got to unpacking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It almost seemed like this school might be a good thing after all. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is somewhat shorter than I expected it to be, but considering the scope is limited to two characters it makes sense. This still took me like three weeks to write though so probably don’t expect more too soon. The song is Someday I’ll find my way home from the Carole and Tuesday soundtrack</p></blockquote></div></div>
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